It´s all about soup babe!

Posts Tagged ‘soup’

Today I would like to share a simple but delicious potato soup with you. I am adding salmon because I believe it makes it even more delicious but if you are not into pink fishy things J, you could also add smoked bacon or eat the soup as it is.

Level: Easy | Time: 30 minutes | serves 2

Ingredients

1 knob of butter

2 stalks of celery, chopped

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

6 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces

1 leek, washed and cut into rings

1 carrot peeled and cut into small pieces

650 millilitres of vegetable stock

A little cream if you like

50 grams of smoked salmon

Chives (1 handful)

Salt and Pepper

1 bay leave

Preparation

Heat a little butter in a medium-sized pot on a medium heat. Add the onions and the garlic and cook for 5-10 minutes until the onions are translucent.

Add the rest of the vegetables and cook for another 5 minutes before adding the stock, the bay leave and salt and pepper.

Cover the pot and cook for 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft.

Blend the soup until smooth and add the cream (if you want to use it).

If the soup it to thick, add a little more stock.

Ladle the soup into preheated bowls. Place the smoked salmon in the middle and decorate with sprinkled chives.

I love this Gulasch soup recipe as it reminds me of my father. It was generally my mother who was in charge of the pots and pans in our house but when it came to Gulasch my father was the man for the job. He always puts a lot of effort in his cooking: Shopping for the right ingredients, chopping everything to the exact perfect size, cooking slowly and enjoying having the kitchen to himself. Our dinners would usually be late when my dad was cooking, but we were rewarded with fantastic flavours.

Now where I live quiet far away from my parents, I love preparing this soup and cherish a few good old memories. This soup is absolutely perfect for the wintery season and tastes great with a glass of red or mulled wine.

Happy second advent!

Level: Medium | Time: 60 minutes | serves 2

Ingredients

1 knob of butter or vegetable oil

5 baby onions quartered

1 carrot, peeled and cut in pieces

1 red pepper, washed and cut in pieces

1 small (or half a normal) leek, washed and cut in rings

100 grams of smoky bacon

250 grams of beef (don’t use a too lean cut)

Salt and Pepper

Sweet paprika powder (2 TS)

A few fresh thyme stalks

2 bay leaves

Beef stock 600 ml

Sour cream

Tomato puree

1 glass of red wine

Mushrooms (I used brown mushrooms. If you can get wild mushrooms, that would be even better.)

Preparation

Put the butter in a heavy base pot on a high heat and fry the bacon and meat for a few minutes until brown all around.

Lower the heat to medium and add the red wine. Cook for about 5 minutes allowing the alcohol to evaporate.

Add the spices (paprika powder, salt, pepper, Thyme and Bay leaves) and the tomato puree and give it a good mix.

Now add the rest of the vegetables besides the mushrooms, and the beef stock and bring to a boil.

Lower the temperature to a low heat and cook covered.

After 30 minutes add the mushrooms, mix well and cook for another 20 minutes.

Serve the soup in warm bowls with a drop of crème fraîche and a sprinkle of fresh Thyme.

When I started this blog I was afraid that my husband would start protesting very soon. Don’t get me wrong. He is absolutely fantastic and supports me in every way possible. He proof reads all my posts to make sure you have a chance to understand what I am writing about and compliments my pictures every time.

But eating soup at least twice a week? I was not sure that he would like that idea. Three weeks into my blog project, he has not complaint once, which makes me really happy because he is not the kind of person who would give you a happy face when he doesn’t like the food that he being served.

Nonetheless I decided to add a few meaty soups to my repertoire to keep the smile on his face. As kale is very healthy and widely available at this time of the year, I decided to use it as my main ingredient. I added some smoked bacon, potatoes and veggies and had a great soup in no time.

Level: Easy | Time: 40 minutes | serves 4-6

Ingredients

150 grams of smoked bacon, cut into pieces

3 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cut in cubes

1 carrot, peeled and sliced

1-2 stalks of celery, peeled and cut in small pieces

1 leek washed and cut into rings (I use the green part as well but if you don’t like it, just leave it out.)

1 small to medium head of kale, washed and cut into small pieces

(Make sure you give the leek and kale a really good wash. They can be quite sandy. I don’t throw away the tougher pieces of the kale because I like a little crunch to my soup. I just cut them into smaller pieces to make sure everything is done at the same time.)

750 ml of vegetable or chicken stock

Salt and Pepper

Preparation

Heat a frying pan on medium heat and fry the bacon. You don’t need any extra butter of oil; the bacon contains enough fat. Cook it for about 10 minutes until most of the fat has cooked out and it is slightly crispy. Take it out of the pan and put it on kitchen paper so that it absorbs some of the fat.

Put the pan back on the heat and fry the veggies in the rest of the bacon fat for 5 minutes.

Now transfer everything to a pot and add the stock. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Take the soup off the heat and blend half of the soup till creamy.

Bring everything back to the pot (bacon, creamy soup, rest of the soup) and cook for another 3-5 minutes and serve in a warm bowl with brown bread.

It is getting colder and darker every day now and my taste buds call for hearty and spicy food. I had planed to cook fajitas this weekend and just needed to add a few things to my shopping list to prepare a nice starter soup.

As I bought a big steak for the fajita, I decided to keep the soup meat free. The potatoes and beans make it rich anyway. I generally don’t use floury potatoes but in this recipe I think they work really well. They help to thicken the soup and make it even richer.

Cumin and chopped coriander give a kick to the soup. When the onions and garlic are nicely fried and you add the freshly ground cumin, the smell in your kitchen is amazing and give you an idea how the soup will taste like.

If you want to turn this soup into a main course, just add mince meat or chorizo to it. If you don’t eat meat, try some quesadillas with it.

Level: Easy | Time: 40 minutes | serves 6

Ingredients

3 TS of Olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finally chopped

2 medium-sized potatoes (floury), sliced in small pieces

1 green pepper, sliced in small pieces

1 can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can of chopped tomatoes

500 ml of beef stock (or vegetable stock)

2 dried red chillies

Salt and Pepper

3 TS of ground cumin (If you can, use whole cumin seeds and grind them with the Pestle and Mortar. The smell is just amazing!)

Fresh coriander, tomatoes and spring onion for a small salad

Preparation

Heat 3 TS of olive oil in a medium-sized pot and fry the onion on a low heat until soft. Add the garlic and the spices and keep frying them for another 2-3 minutes.

Add the potatoes, green pepper and kidney beans to the pot and cover with the stock and chopped tomatoes.

Add the dried chillies and a little extra salt if necessary.

Cook for about 20 minutes on a medium heat. Don’t cover the pot completely, allowing some of the juices to evaporate and the soup to thicken.

Take the soup of the heat and taste it. Add Salt and Pepper if necessary and mix in the chopped coriander.

To serve prepare a small salad of chopped spring onions, tomatoes and coriander lightly tossed in a little lime juice.

Fill the soup into a bowl and garnish with the salad. You can also add some grated cheese if you like.

I was a little bit down this week. It started to be very dark and cold outside, and it rained endlessly. That really got to me. That’s why I decided to challenge myself in the kitchen and cook something extra nice today. I wanted something that goes well with a nice glass of red wine… to make sure the mood is set right for the weekend. And this is what I came up with: French onion soup.

For me it is a perfect recipe for the cold days and with lots of melted cheese it surely brings back a smile on my face. As I never cooked an onion soup before, I researched a bit online and the ingredients for most recipes are fairly similar. The French seem to be very particular on the cheese that should be used (Gruyere) but as I could not get it I used Cheddar.

After letting all my emotions out while cutting the onions, the soup almost cooked itself and it smelled and tasted absolutely yummy.

Level: Medium | Time: 60 minutes | serves 4

Ingredients

A good knob of butter

2 gloves of garlic, finely sliced

500-600 ml of good quality chicken stock

4 big white onions

1 glass of red wine

Cheese, grated (Gruyere would be great but I could not get it so I used cheddar.)

White bread such as baguette, roasted and cut into small pieces (crouton like)

2 TS of flour

2 Bay leaves, 2-3 TS of dried Thyme

Salt and Pepper

Preparation

Peel and cut the onions into thin rings and finely chop the garlic.

Melt the butter on a medium to low heat and add the onions and garlic to a medium-sized pot. If you have one, use one a heavy stewing pot.

It will take about 20 minutes until the onions cook down. Make sure that they don’t burn.

Now, add in the glass of wine and keep stirring for another 10 minutes.

When the wine has reduced, add 2 TS of flour, salt and pepper, the herbs and the stock, and allow the soup to cook on a low heat for another 20-30 minutes.

To serve: Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees using the top heat setting. Ladle the soup into a bowl, add the pieces of bread and cover it with grated cheese. Bake for 5 minutes until the cheese has melted and is bubbly and golden.

That just sounds and tastes great and it is super easy to cook. Just fry one small onion in a little olive oil, add the watercress, stock and cooked potatoes and you are almost done.

Level: Easy | Time: 30 minutes | serves 2-4

Ingredients

A little bit of olive oil

1 small onion, peeled and cut into small pieces

4 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cooked

250 grams of fresh watercress

450 ml of chicken or vegetarian stock

Salt and Pepper to taste

Goat’s cheese

For the croutons: bread, garlic and herbs

Preparation

Add a little bit of olive oil to a small pot and fry the onion on a low heat until translucent.

Add the stock, watercress and the cooked potatoes to the pot and cook together for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile you can prepare the croutons. To do that, cut you bread or toast in small pieces and fry in a pan with a little olive oil, some herbs (such as herbs de province) and some garlic. Roast until the croutons have a nice colour and have absorbed the great garlic and herb flavour.

Take the soup off the heat and blend in a food processor until smooth.

To serve, add the soup to a bowl and garnish with the crumbled goats cheese and some croutons.